


Scintilla

by tigerlo



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-30
Updated: 2014-03-30
Packaged: 2018-01-17 13:26:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,094
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1389373
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tigerlo/pseuds/tigerlo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She remembers. </p><p>She wakes up on the cold stone floor of her old chambers and Regina remembers everything. </p><p> </p><p>Takes place immediately after 3x11</p>
            </blockquote>





	Scintilla

**Author's Note:**

> This picks up straight after 3x11 where it deviates from canon. The mid-season finale broke my heart a little and this was my way of dealing with it.
> 
> Unedited so any mistakes are entirely my own. Also I don't own any of the characters, if I did they'd only have eyes for each other.

-

  


She remembers.

  


She wakes up on the cold stone floor of her old chambers and Regina remembers _everything_.

  


She remembers twenty-eight years spent in limbo and a year where a blonde with a chip on her shoulder breathed some life back into her kingdom of grey and beige.

  


She remembers her son and she feels her heart break clean down the middle. She cries then, and the sobs rack her body and drain her of what little energy she has left. She falls asleep like that, crying into an empty room with no one but her own loneliness for solace. She realises she loves her son’s mother in the same moment she realises she has lost Henry once and for all.

  


She does the bare minimum to survive. The servants having been brought back with the curse, and she finds a plate of food outside her door at dawn and dusk everyday. She finds no comfort in food, nor it's warmth, she eats because she must, because Henry would have wanted it no other way.

  


She thinks of her son constantly, and cries almost every time she does. Mother would have been disgusted she thinks at the beginning, but Mother never understood what it was like to loose something irreplaceable.

  


Some insignificant length of time later, war picks up where it left off. Snow’s army attempts countless sieges but she finds she can defend the castle with little effort. All she has to do is think of Henry and Emma and _safe_ and the shield around the harsh metal walls sparks and solidifies.

  


The grief makes her magic _strong_ , stronger than her rage or her need for vengeance. The thought of her son and his other mother are the only things stopping her from throwing herself off the balcony and finishing a job she tried to start three decades ago.

  


Sometimes she dreams, other times she doesn't. When she does, she dreams of a red leather jacket and a soft Boston accent and messy blonde hair that she wants to run her fingers through and never stop.

  


She lives in constant fear of forgetting the good that had enriched her life, so she stores her memories in the black diamond that had served as her fail-safe. She stores the smell of Henry's hair after a bath, the moment he first said her name, the first time she saw his birth mother and the first time she called Regina by her name and not Madame Mayor.

  


Sometimes she thinks of the things she would say to Emma if she ever got the chance. Things like I remember you, I love you, do you remember me? She tries to sear into her memory every interaction they ever had, tries to keep hold of the way her hair looked after she'd been caught in the rain or the look on Emma’s face when she caught her reading a dog-eared copy of Pride and Prejudice under her desk at the station, cheeks reddening in embarrassment before she'd tossed it into a drawer and glared at Regina.

  


Most of all though, she thinks about saying sorry, but the word seems so unbelievably insignificant in the face of everything she has done. I’m sorry I stole your childhood from you, I'm sorry I gave your parents no other option but to abandon you to the horrors of your world, and Emma I'm sorry I didn't tell you I loved you from the moment I laid eyes on you.

  


When the grief becomes so crippling that she can't stand anymore she does the unthinkable and calls parley with Snow’s army.

  


Regina knows they don't remember, not like she does, and she knows she's going to have to choose her words as carefully as she ever has if she is to get their buy in at all. Their memories will have picked up where they left off the night the curse swept through their land in a wave of burdened purple, so she knows her invite will appear to be nothing more than another trick or threat.

 

-

  


She can feel Snow and Charming on the edge of the barrier a week after her emissaries make contact with their armies. She is wearing (by the standards of this world) a modest dress of form fitting black that falls in a pool at her feet when she greets them at the boundary, and she can see the surprise in their faces at her presence, not that of her guards.

  


Regina knows she looks weary; she hasn't slept a full night since their return, her mind tormenting her with dreams of those she has lost as soon as she shuts her eyes. The set of her shoulders must betray her because the moment Snow actually looks at her; her grip on her husband’s sword slackens ever so slightly.

  


“What is the meaning of this Regina?” Charming asks roughly. “You called this kingdom to war you'll remember, and yet here you stand, a victor, looking as though you've just lost everything you worked for.”

  


“I have,” Regina says softly, “I have lost everything and I need your help to find it again.”

  


“What kind of new trick is this?” Charming spits. “Did you think we would actually take pity on you? Trust a word you say?”

  


“No I don't,” Regina says immediately. “I know you won't trust a thing I say so let me show you instead. None of your soldiers have been harmed have they? Thousands have stormed the castle and I have sent every one away with nothing more than a mild electric shock. I have caused no death, I have made no attack on your camp, my actions have solely been to defend myself.”

  


“What do you want?” Snow asks, moving to step in front of her husband.

  


“I need to explain something very complicated to you, I can do that out here in the cold or we can adjourn to the castle.”

  


“We're not going anywhere with you,” Charming says firmly.

  


“Suit yourself,” Regina snarks, “I suppose you're both well adapted to the extremes by now.”

  


She takes a deep breath then, and smooths her dress down in an attempt to steady herself.

  


“Twenty-nine years ago I stormed your wedding ceremony and made you both a promise, to destroy your happiness, and I did.  I cast a curse that stripped us of our lands and titles, that stole your memories and transported us all to a land without magic. In the process I forced you to send your daughter ahead of us to this new land, alone and abandoned, where she was raised by strangers.”

  


“Regina, what are you talking about?” Charming asks genuinely puzzled. “The ceremony was last year, we've been at war with you the entire time; we haven't left the kingdom.”

  


“What of your daughter then?” She asks “You were pregnant at your wedding ceremony, where is she now?”

  


She sees Snow’s face glaze over then and anger takes the place of curiosity.

 

“She died Regina. She was still born. Doc said it was the stress of the war that caused me to miscarry.”

  


“Your daughter didn't die,” Regina says, shaking her head. “She was born and lived through a horrible childhood at the hands of others, but she endured. She grew into a beautiful, strong young woman who mothered a son she wasn't ready for.”

  


“In the other land I raised him, he was procured for me by Rumplestiltskin, but your grandson grew up under my roof, surrounded by my love.”

  


“We should go Snow,” Charming says then. “It appears as though her wits have finally abandoned her.” He pulls softly on Snow’s shoulder but she shrugs him off.

  


“What else Regina?” Snow demands greedily. “Tell me more of this world.”

  


“We all lived in a small town, impenetrable by the outside world. We lived different lives with different people and twenty eight years after we first arrived, your daughter came to town with her son and ruined everything.”

  


“She was there?” Snow says hesitantly. “Did I ever get to meet her?”

  


“She lived with you,” Regina explains. “Once she broke the curse and the memories that were lost for such a long time returned, you were reunited. You all were,” she says to Charming specifically.

  


“Why are you telling us all this?” he asks wearily.

  


“Because I loved your daughter, and I need to get her back. I need to get my son back.”

  


“How can we believe any of this Regina?” Snow asks. “All you've ever tried to do was destroy anything and everything I held dear.”

  


“I don't expect you to believe me at all, so let me show you instead,” she says raising a hand slightly.

  


“I have gone to great lengths to preserve some of my memories of the other land. If you'll permit I can show you a few of them, I can show you your daughter.”

  


The look of hesitation on Charming's face is mirrored on the face of his wife but she can see she has done what she needed to do, Snow has always been greedy, for more than she was ever warranted, and she can see the smallest glimmer of hope has been lit in her eyes.

  


“Very well,” Snow says taking a step towards Regina to stand almost nose-to-nose with the magical barrier. “Show me what you mean to show me Regina.”

  


She places her palm on the barrier, curls her other hand around the diamond sewn into a pocket in her dress and concentrates. She looks for the most potent memories, those that will with any luck, shock Snow into action.

  


The first memory is of Henry, fast asleep in the crib she refused to ask Graham to help her assemble, she runs her fingers lightly through the chimes above him to help him drift off to sleep.

  


The second memory is of adoption papers that should never have been able to make their way into Regina’s possession. They name one Emma Swan as the biological mother of the small screaming boy she’s trying to rock to sleep with her spare hand.

  


The third is of Emma, her hand on Henry’s shoulder as she had led him up the front path to the mansion after his misadventure to Boston.

  


The fourth memory is of Emma, beautiful, damaged Emma standing in front of her parents for the first time after the curse had broken. Snow and Charming are both crying as they pull Emma into a hesitant hug.

  


The final memory is of the last conversation she had with Emma before the curse had washed over them standing at the town line. She shows Snow the memory in its entirety, every word, every tear, every emotion that has haunted Regina second by second since then. She wants Snow to taste the regret and the love unrealised, but most of all she wants her to taste the relief at having found a way to keep Emma safe.

  


When the last breath of memory leaves the space between them, Snow drops to her knees and weeps, deep, heaving sobs that steal her breath, a mirror of the ones that had kept Regina company for nights on end.

  


Regina does not offer her solace, or reassurance; instead she stands back as the memories overwhelm her, and waits.

  


“This is all well and good, but how do we know you don't just want us to lead you back there so you can kill all of us at the same time,” Charming says, crouching protectively over his wife who is still incapable of speech.

  


She had been expecting this of course, and had the foresight to think of a solution to silence all of their objections and doubts.

  


She pushes her hand hard into her chest, in a movement so sudden Snow and Charming gasp in unison. She wraps her fingers delicately around her heart and plucks it out of her chest, holding it firmly in front of them. Her heart pulses in her hand, soft and strong, and although it is largely dark to look at, there is a miniscule glimmer of red in the centre.

  


“I will hear no other doubts after this,” Regina says strongly. “I'm warning you. I have shown you enough to trust that if nothing else I will do whatever it takes to get back to the people I love.”

  


“What are you doing Regina?” Snow asks disbelieving.

  


“I'm proving my loyalty to this cause. Now say your name out loud and watch how my heart reacts to it.”

  


Snow breathes her own name and watches as the blackness within Regina's heart stirs, agitating itself. It pushes against its constraints, almost fighting to break out of its hardened prison.

  


“My heart is betraying my true emotions to you,” she says grimly. “It is a rather useful trick I learnt the hard way from my mother. I despise you Snow, right down to the very core of myself, which my heart has aptly demonstrated.”

  


“Now say Henry's name,” she says firmly, dismissing the look of horror on Snow’s face with a glare.

  


“Henry?” Snow questions. “Your father?”

  


“No, Henry was the name I gave my son. Now if you'll please, some of us aren't accustomed to standing out in the freezing cold.”

  


“Henry,” Snow says gently and they all watch as a red light sparks within Regina's heart, illuminating and all but dispelling the black.

  


“I love my son, more than almost anything else I have ever known,” Regina says quietly. “This is proof of that.”

  


“If this is a delusion, she’s utterly convinced of it,” Snow says, turning to Charming. “If it’s not...then we might have a shot of being a family again. If Henry is real, then that must mean that our daughter is real too.”

  


“Emma,” Regina says then, “that was the name you were to give your daughter, no?”

  


“Yes,” Snow breathes, “Emma.”

  


As soon as the words come out of Snow’s mouth, the heart Regina’s still holding gently in her hand glows white and crystal clear, like a diamond. A purity shines out of the facets and throws a soft light on their stunned faces and over the velvet of Regina’s dress.

  


“What was that?” Snow asks breathlessly.

  


“True love,” Regina says simply, eyes transfixed on her heart. “That was what true love does to a heart, even one as dark as mine.”

  


“What you say is true then?” Charming demands of her. “This is not some trick? Our daughter truly is alive and well?”

  


“Yes,” she says, the relief at convincing them lifting the burden of the past weeks off her shoulders with a breath that she feels in her veins.

  


“Well then,” Snow says looking directly into her eyes, searching for any last vestiges of malice. “How do we get back to our daughter?”

  


-

  


There are a number of ways, she explains to Snow and Charming in the days that follow, but very few that present a viable option to them. Portal jumping is the speciality of but a few, and she will not risk bringing the Hatter’s madness back into a world inhabited by her son.

 

Casting the dark curse for a third time is another, although there is nothing Regina truly loves in this world enough to act as a catalyst, and she knows the Charming’s would never tarnish their perfectly white morals by doing something as abhorrent as what would be required to cast it. The last of the world-jumping beans had been used in their adventure to Neverland, and they have no shadow made of pure evil to guide a magic ship back to Maine.

  


In the end there is only one option Regina thinks might prove possible. It is inexplicably difficult to accomplish but she has heard stories of people, lovers mainly, trapped in differing realities who had managed to reunite with one another through a convergent dream world. There had of course been a strict set of commonalities that had bound each of the stories, rules that had to be abided by for the reunion to be possible.

 

-

  


When she tells the others of her idea they just stare at her with the kind of slack jawed idiocy she has come to associate with them alone.

  


“That doesn't even sound remotely possible Regina,” Charming says, dismissing the idea out of hand.

  


“You have enough of a magical education to have an opinion on the matter do you Charming?” Regina says rolling her eyes at him.

  


“Dreams are much more powerful than most people give them credit for. If I can contact Emma, convince her of my feelings for her and the impossibility of our joint history, draw her back to the town line where the convergences of our worlds may still lie resting, there may be a way for us to cross over to her.”

  


“You really think this will work?” Snow says hesitantly.

  


“I do, yes,” Regina says, with a strength she does not quite feel.

  


“Then I suppose we will have to start preparations,” Snow says practically. “What do you need Regina?”

  


-

  


In another land, untouched by the ravages of a magical war, Emma dreams.

 

She dreams of a beautiful woman with long ebony hair in a castle made of ice and stone. She dreams of two companions of the beautiful woman who seem to be working tirelessly towards an end that is not clear to her.

  


The woman with the long black hair speaks to her some nights, and tells her fantastical tales of her adventures with a woman also named Emma, a woman who is as beautiful and pure as the morning light.

  


The conversations of course are all nonsense, the woman in black and red and purple speaks of magic and true love and her birth parents, and Emma can barely remember them when she wakes up in the morning. There is something about this woman however, Queen, she corrects remembering their conversation last night, that she seeks the moment she closes her eyes.

  


One night the Queen mentions her sons name and Emma wakes up in a panic before she remembers that, right, dreams only come from her own head anyway, so it's normal this woman would know the name of her son.

  


One night the woman in black kisses her, Emma remembers _that_ come morning. She remembers because it feels as real as the warm cup of coffee she's currently holding in her hands in an attempt to still the shaking she hasn't been able to still since she woke up. She feels positively on fire with no other explanation bar the make believe kiss in her dream.

  


Weeks after the dreams first start, something changes and Emma begins to remember more completely. She remembers more and more of their conversations when she wakes up, after a while she can clearly recall every meeting she has had with the Queen in the morning.

  


She remembers the quiet desperation that carries underneath every soft word the Queen utters to her.

  


There is a familiarity to the other woman that makes Emma's head spin. Everything about her, her scent, the way her fingers wrap perfectly around Emma's wrist, the colour of her hair, seems so unbelievably familiar she carries the ghost of the other woman with her each day.

  


Things take a turn for the stranger one day when Emma picks an innocent looking apple out of the fruit bowl and is almost knocked off her feet by an honest to god, movie style, flashback. She sees a chainsaw roaring in her hands as she cuts the branch off a healthy looking apple tree, before looking across a pristinely cut lawn into the furious face of none other than the black-headed Queen of her dreams.

  


“What the hell do you think you're doing?” The other woman snarls as she stalks over to Emma, who tosses the still purring chainsaw carelessly on the grass behind her.  


 

The vision must occupy her for a minute or two because she finally comes to with Henry roughly shaking her arm, looking at her with concerned eyes much older than his young years.

  


“Are you all right Ma?” He asks softly.

  


“Yeah kid, I'm fine. Guess I just had a dizzy spell or something,” she says ruffling Henry's hair gently.

  


-

  


On a gamble she decides to ask the Queen about it later in her dreams.

 

“The curse is starting to weaken,” the Queen says with a breath. “Your memories are trying to come back, they're trying to cement themselves again.”

 

“I need you to do something for me Emma,” she says, “For us. I need you to take Henry and travel to Maine; I need you to go back to the place he grew up.”

  


The thing is though she's always had this unshakable bullshit detector, and there is this niggling voice in the back of her head that says there is some credibility in the sheer insanity of their conversations, that she finds she's unable to shake.

  


She decides on a road trip then, if for no other reason than that after she gets this over and done with, she might finally have a good night sleep.

  


-

  


You're crazy woman, Emma thinks to herself as she plots their course on a map, following the directions she had written down as soon as she had woken up.

  


She looks over to Henry's closed bedroom door as she cradles a cup of hot chocolate in her hands. He's going to think I'm mad too she thinks.

 

“You couldn't have a word with him while he's still knocked out to make this whole thing seem less mad could you?” She says to the queen, and to the empty room. “Or am I the only one lucky enough to be graced with your royal presence?”

  


-

  


Sitting around the war table in the Winter Palace, Regina reveals the extent of her carefully laid plans to the Charmings.

  


“I plan to use the power in the fail-safe,” she says spreading her palms wide on the rough wood.

  


“But isn't that destructive power?” Charming volunteers unhelpfully.

  


“It was destructive because I willed it to be when I first cast the curse; it is essentially just a power source now, albeit a mostly drained one.” Regina explains slowly.

  


“Well how do you propose to use it if it doesn't have any power left?” He asks.

  


“That's the tricky thing about true love,” Regina says bringing the diamond out of her pocket to play in the late light of the day, where it glows brilliantly.

 

“It's rather unpredictable. It seems by storing the memories of Henry and Emma within it, I unconsciously began charging it again. It should have enough charge now to move us from our world to theirs, if Emma travels to Maine that is.”  

  


“It's as simple as that?” Snow asks.

  


“Well yes, if you consider convincing Emma to pack up and move across the country because I told her to in a dream easy, we’ll be back in Storybrooke before dinnertime,” she says sarcastically. “If I can convince Emma to leave it will still take an immense amount of power but yes, I believe it is achievable.”

  


“What more can be done,” Charming asks eagerly. “What more can we do to prepare?”

  


“Nothing,” she says turning away from them. “Nothing but wait, and see what path Emma has decided to take.”

  


-

  


They're actually halfway to Maine by the time Henry questions where they're going.

  


“Does this have anything to do with all the sleep talking?” He asks suddenly.

  


“What do you mean kid?” Emma says feigning innocence.

  


“You never used to talk in your sleep but the last month or so I’ve heard you sometimes. For a while I actually thought there might be someone in there with you but I never heard anyone answer you so I guessed you were just talking to yourself.”

  


She takes a deep breath to steady herself, but really she's been preparing herself for this conversation for the last 24 hours.

  


“I had a pretty crummy childhood, you remember that right? I had a lot of questions but I never got a lot of answers.”

  


“Yeah,” he says softly.

  


“Well there's just been something that's been bugging me lately, I didn't want to worry you or tell you anything because honestly I don't know what it means myself but I just felt like I needed to come here to see if it answered anything, is that ok with you?”

  


“Yeah, I guess so,” Henry says, slumping down in his seat, seemingly placated by Emma's answer. “Thanks for telling me the truth.”  
  


-

  


Regina can feel it the moment they pass over the town line, a jolt of current that runs under her skin and settles, humming, in her chest.

  


“They're here,” she announces simply, before transporting both Charming and Snow directly into the ruins of the Summer Palace.

  


-

  


I've just driven into a horror movie, is Emma's first impression of the town. The infrastructure is in remarkably good condition, eerily so in fact, but there isn't a soul to be seen.

  


They park outside what looks like the district courthouse. “Stay in the car kid and lock the doors, I'm just going to have a quick look around.”

  


Her hand settles of its own accord on the loaded gun she put on under her jacket about half way into this insane road trip, and the cool, familiar metal eases her racing heart slightly.

  


It's nerves, obviously, that have her so on edge, but there's this other sort of undercurrent that she can feel crawling under her skin, like someone's watching every step she's taking.

  


She decides to try the Sheriff’s office as a starter for ten, if the local arm of law enforcement have abandoned the place, surely that's as good a sign as any to leave immediately. She holds up a hesitant hand and turns the door handle slowly.

  


-

  


“What are we waiting for?” Charming says impatiently. “What if we loose our chance?”

  


“We need to wait,” Regina snaps back. “If I don't time this perfectly then everything we have done will be for nothing.”

  


“How do you know when that will be?”

  


“Because I can feel them,” she says gritting her teeth. “Can't you?”

  


“Well no,” he admits dumbly.

  


“Then stop distracting me and allow me to concentrate.”

 

It's difficult enough doing this blind, and she's never had to rely on the power of true love to guide her before. This is all just a wild guessing game but it's the last hope for all of them.

  


“I just need to wait to feel...”

  


-

  


The moment Emma places a foot inside the Sheriff’s station she feels an electric shock run directly through the centre of her that drops her to her knees.

  


-

  


At exactly the same moment, in a land an eternity away, Regina is cut off mid sentence by an enormous surge of power that almost overwhelms her.

  


“Now,” she gasps. “They're in place now.”

  


Charming and Snow move in to place a hand on Regina's shoulders as she takes the diamond and warms it between her palms. She takes a deep, chest shuddering breath and concentrates every particle of energy in her body on the gem in her hands.

  


She thinks of Henry and Emma and _light_ and feels a rush of magic before opening her eyes to the dull fluorescent lighting of the Sheriff’s station.

 

-

  


“Will someone tell me what the _hell_ is going on?” Emma manages to get out from her position on the floor, before Regina takes a few confident strides towards the other woman, falls to her knees and kisses her hard on the lips.

  


The familiar metallic pulse of magic that follows, and the sound of her son’s footfalls thundering down the hall way are the only things significant enough to make her tear her gaze away from Emma's.

  


“Mom!” Is the last thing she hears before Henry throws the full weight of his small body into both herself and Emma.

  


His arms are wrapped around her neck like a vice grip but all she can see is Emma, beautiful, golden Emma who looks like the weight of the world has just been lifted off her shoulders.

  


Charming and Snow wait patiently in the corner for their turn of affection, and it is with a beautiful reluctance that Emma pulls away from her to stand and embrace her parents.

  


“What the hell do we do now?” Emma asks to the room in general.

  


“How about we go see what else that kiss of yours brought back, huh kiddo?” Charming says softly to Emma.

  


It is only then that Emma truly takes in Regina at full height, staring for a beat too long before swallowing roughly. “Wait _that_ is what you used to wear back in your world?”

  


For the first time in her life, in a room full of Charmings, Regina smiles.

  


-

  


As Regina had anticipated, their kiss had brought her second dark curse to an end, bringing all those with lives tied to Storybrooke back for a second time.

  


They leave the station, Emma walking close to her side, but too shy to thread their fingers together, to see the relieved faces of those who never wanted to return to the forest in the first place. Archie on his knees with his arms around Pongo’s neck, Grannie and Ruby, Fred and Kathryn standing close together, Belle and Baelfire with faces the miserable mirror of each other, the Dwarves that make up the Charmings’ Company.

  


Grannie is the first to speak up. “What happened? One minute I'm skinning a rabbit, the next I'm here?”

  


Charming steps forward to answer her and Regina allows herself the luxury of looking at Emma, at the way her pulse beats slow and steady in her neck, at the way her eyelashes flutter when Regina finally tangles their fingers together and the way her pupils blow just a fraction wider when their skin makes contact.

  


“You want to so something irresponsible and get out of here?” Emma says with a smirk.

  


“You read my mind,” Regina replies, voice barely above a growl.

  


“Henry dear,” she says leaning down to speak in her son’s ear softly. “Your mother and I are going to go home, will you come with us?”

  


He nods seriously before taking Regina's hand firmly.

  


With one last look at the shocked expression on Baelfire's face, Regina wraps Emma and Henry up in her arms and leaves the denizens of her city far, far behind.

  


-

  


Her mansion is, thankfully, beautifully untouched. The gloss of the paint on the front door shines golden under the early evening sun as Regina and Emma walk hand in hand up the path, a few steps behind Henry who has decided to lead the way.

  


He pushes through the front door as though he has only been gone hours, not months, and stops in the foyer suddenly conscious of his surroundings.

  


“Are you hungry dear?” Regina asks gently.

  


“No I think I'm just going to go sleep,” he says quietly. “You guys won't go anywhere will you?” The wobble in his voice is small but the meaning behind it holds more significance than Regina could ever have hoped for.

  


Her breath catches in her throat and for a second the air in her lungs just won't budge. Emma just steps forward simply and ruffles his hair. “Go get some sleep kid, we aren't going anywhere.”

  


They both watch him drag his feet up the staircase, and wait motionless until they hear the soft pull of his bedroom door closing.

  


“What now?” Emma breathes, eyes fixed on Regina's lips, and Regina feels the breath settle in every molecule of her body.

  


Regina just smiles, dangerous and low, and runs a hand lightly over the exposed collarbone of Emma's chest to rest an inch lower than is decent. “We collect the debt that was paid, dear.”

  


-

  


Regina can count seconds between each of Emma's breaths, the next slower and more drawn than the one before it.

  


They move slowly enough for Emma to break apart, to haltingly ask, “Have you done this before?”

  


“This isn't my first time with a woman if that's what you're asking dear,” Regina says with a smirk. Don't mistake me taking my time for hesitation. I never thought I would have the opportunity to touch you like this. I intend to savour this Emma.”

  


“Oh,” Emma says, as the rest of her sentence is lost as she pushes Regina down on the bed, pushing her shirt up roughly as her mouth trails slow, slow kisses down her stomach.

  


-

  


Emma is three fingers deep and moving with the full weight of her arm behind her, muscles straining under the pressure when she actually has to cover Regina's mouth with her other hand to stifle an uncomfortably loud moan.

  


“Sound proof this damn room Regina I swear to god,” she says dragging her teeth down Regina's throat.

  


One of Regina's hand flies from where it's currently carving little half moons into the wooden slats of her bed frame to throw a purple mist that covers the walls.

  


She manages to do so at precisely the right time, because as soon as Regina drops her hand to grasp wildly at the blankets, Emma's thumb sweeps over her clit. She feels Regina tighten suddenly around her fingers as Regina's back bows off the bed and she screams.

  


-

  


Emma's not much better, and she actually drags Regina up from where she's currently situated between Emma's legs to ask, “This _really_ isn't your first time with a woman is it?”

  


Regina has the audacity to wipe daintily at the corner of her mouth when she raises her head to answer Emma. “That obvious is it dear?”

  


“Only you could be smug about that,” Emma says eyes rolling as she falls back on the bed. “What are you waiting for Your Majesty, show me what else you can do with that quick tongue of yours.”

  


-

  


It's not till much much later, when the silk of Regina's sheets fall over them both like waves does Emma finally ask one of the many questions she's had swimming in her head for hours.

  


“Why me?” She asks, turning on her side to face Regina.

  


“What do you mean dear?”

  


“It just seems so unbelievable? I mean you hated me a year ago Regina.”

  


“Does it though dear? Can you not see the symmetry in our lives? As loath as I am to admit, there aren't many others who had a worse childhood than I did. There aren't many others whose parents damaged them so completely, consciously or not. I could never be loved by someone who didn't understand the darkness inside of me, at least to some extent, and I think you feel the same way.”

 

“There's also a very fine line between lust and hate,” she says smirking just slightly. “I just made you believe I sat on the opposite side of the divide.”

  


They both lie in silence for a long time, their slow breaths filling up the space between them.

  


“So you loved me the whole time?” Emma asks. “From the start I mean?”

  


“Yes dear,” Regina admits. “From the start.”

  


Emma laughs easily then. “Things could have been a lot smoother if you'd just kissed me instead of hitting me in the cemetery you know?”

  


“I know,” Regina says sadly. “But you never would have broken the curse, and I don't think you could ever have loved me in that reality, not fully. Not knowing who we truly were to each other would have destroyed us in the end.”

  


“How does this story end then?” Emma asks threading her fingers between Regina's where their hands lie.

  


“I imagine that's up to you dear.” Regina shrugs.

  


“But not up to you?”

  


“I crossed a world to be with you Emma, I'm exactly where I want to be. If you want me I'm yours, truly.”

  


“Well,” Emma says rolling on top of Regina again. “I suppose I could keep you round; you were pretty good for one thing at the very least.”

  


“Ugh,” Regina says, feigning disgust. “Maybe you're not a Charming after all.”

  


“I guess I'll just have to prove it to you,” Emma says as she kisses Regina, deep and slow.

  


And so she does, again and again and again, until their voices run raw and their limbs tremble and time moves on again.

  
  
-


End file.
